1
14
CHINA
MAY
24th 73
OPINION
WINDS OF CHANGE
AT FIRST sight the McKinsey Report on the Machinery of Government seems to be much ado about precious little.
In general the report has been adopted hardly a surprise, since in broad outline the consultants are merely telling Government what it wants to hear, much of it implied in the brief.
An administration so beset by long term logistical problems would hardly shell out $2.6 million for a study which it did not partially direct and over which it did not exercise considerable influence. Incidentally, there is slight likelihood
that Government will receive much change out of this vote set aside for the present report. ·
In part it is for these very reasons that a number of the proposals have already been adopted, adapted or cautiously tested. Now the report has been tabled in
the Legislative Council where it will get the publicly-visible nod. Having been thus endorsed, one is,
left with a niggling sense that it advocates measures which will differ from the extant ones much more on paper than in fact. Nevertheless a closer acquaintance with the proposals raises real hope that they may lead to some significant measures in eradicating rather than merely rationalising areas of administrative muddle.
In bureaucratic tangles where it is barely possible to see the wood from the trees this is an innovation greatly to be admired. In the present instance the problems have been tackled by using the methods of private enterprise, and restructuring within Govern- ment is conceived in terms found to be effective in business management. The formalising of secretariats under which related departments will operate is a major McKinsey proposal.
RKSVID IN RECHIPYA
11 JONA
LWICK 1/18
Messrs Cater, Robson and Lightbody will head Secretariats or policy offices for Home Affairs, the Environment and Housing res- pectively.
Thereafter Secretaries for the Economy, Security and Social Security will be appointed over a period of six to nine months, pending suitable office accommo- dation. Government policy will be in no way
affected by these proposals, but its altered mode of implementat- ion seems to include the promise that policy will be thereby rendered more effective.
Overall the report advocates streng- thening of existing Government machinery to produce limited improvements, the introduction of new offices to reduce the administrative load and an attent- ion to personnel management in the hope that manpower will be deployed to greater effect.
An area for more straightforward sophistication is that in which a mechanical task could be handled through computer hardware. Taking a longer term view, the Mc- Kinsey prognostication for airport, railway, waterworks and post office as nationalised industries is a pretty safe bet.
The setting up of secretariats and other report proposals can only be thought of as interim measures making Government's burden manageable.
in
stems
It acknowledges that the need for
change in Government primarily from growth.
As one Government commentator aptly remarked: "This is not a definitive document; times
will call for
solutions."
changing
changing
1
*
“།